Principles of TeachingBennion, Adam S. (Adam Samuel)
Religion
Principles of Teaching
Bennion, Adam S. (Adam Samuel)
Religious education
"A father and his tiny son
Crossed a rough street one stormy day,
'See papa!' cried the little one,
'I stepped in your steps all the way!'
"Ah, random, childish hands, that deal
Quick thrusts no coat of proof could stay!
It touched him with the touch of steel--
'I stepped in your steps all the way!'
"If this man shirks his manhood's due
And heeds what lying voices say,
It is not one who falls, but two,
'I stepped in your steps all the way!'
"But they who thrust off greed and fear,
Who love and watch, who toil and pray,
How their hearts carol when they say,
'I stepped in your steps all the way!'"
Still another joy that attends teaching is the satisfaction of seeing
pupils develop. The sculptor finds real happiness in watching his clay
take on the form and expression of his model; the artist glories as his
colors grow into life; the parent finds supreme joy in seeing himself
"re-grow" in his child; so the teacher delights to see his pupils build
their lives on the truths he has taught. The joy is doubly sweet if it
is heightened by an expression of appreciation on the part of the
pupils. Few experiences can bring the thrill of real happiness that
comes to the teacher when a former student, once perhaps a little
inclined to mischief or carelessness, takes him by the hand with a "God
bless you for helping me find my better self."
An officer of the British army, in recounting those experiences which
had come to him in the recent world war, and which he said he never
could forget, referred to one which more than compensated him for all
the effort he had ever put into his preparation for teaching. Because of
his position in the army it became his duty to discipline a group of
boys for what in the army is a serious offense. In that group was a boy
who had formerly been a pupil under the officer in one of our ward
organizations. Chagrin was stamped on the face of the boy as he came
forward for reprimand. Regret and remorse were in the heart of the
officer. They soon gave way to pride, however, as the boy assured him
that worse than any punishment was the humiliation of being brought
before his own teacher, and he further assured him that never again
would he do a thing that would mar the sacred relations of pupil and
teacher.
A further compensation attached to teaching is that of inspirational
companionship. It is a blessed privilege to enjoy the sunshine of youth.
Every pupil contributes an association with one of God's choice spirits.
To live and work with children and adolescents is one of the finest of
safeguards against old age. The teacher not only partakes of the joy of
his group--they constitute him a link between his generation and theirs.
Their newness of life, their optimism, their spontaneity, their joy,
they gladly pass on to their teacher.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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